Thermal Insulation Bag

ABSTRACT

A thermal insulation bag, having a bag body for accommodating goods and an upper cover for covering the bag body, wherein the bag body comprises an inner container having side walls and a bottom wall, and a first inner TPU fabric layer and a second outer TPU fabric layer that cover the outer sides of the side walls and the bottom wall of the inner container, and the upper cover comprises an upper cover body, and a first inner TPU fabric layer and a second outer TPU fabric layer that cover at least a part of the outer side of the upper cover body; wherein a vacuum insulation panel VIP is disposed between the first inner TPU fabric layer and the second outer TPU fabric layer for the side walls of the inner container and/or the bottom wall of the inner container and/or the upper cover body, and a protective layer for the vacuum insulation panel is disposed between the vacuum insulation panel and the second outer TPU fabric layer.

PRIORITY

This non-provisional patent application claims priority to and benefit of, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) Chinese Patent Application CN 202121730671.5, filed Jul. 8, 2021, all of which is incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates to a thermal insulation bag for thermally insulating goods contained therein.

2. Description of the Related Art

A thermal insulation bag is one of outdoor bags and suitcases for containing various foods and maintaining the temperature and freshness of the foods. The thermal insulation bag can be used for heat retention, but also for cold storage (for example, low-temperature goods containing ice cubes or cold drinks therein).

For example, with the thermal insulation bag as shown in FIG. 1 , a thermal insulation effect (such as heat retention or cold storage) thereof is achieved by means of an expanded polyethylene (EPE) material layer. However, this thermal insulation effect is still not very desirable, and there is thus still a need to improve the thermal insulation performance of the thermal insulation bag.

The information included in this Background section of the specification, including any references cited herein and any description or discussion thereof, is included for technical reference purposes only and is not to be regarded subject matter by which the scope of the invention is to be bound.

SUMMARY

The technical problem to be solved by the disclosure is to provide a thermal insulation bag with improved thermal insulation performance and a long service life in view of the above-mentioned defect of the prior art.

To solve the technical problems mentioned above, the present disclosure uses the following technical solutions:

manufacturing a thermal insulation bag, which comprises a bag body for accommodating goods and an upper cover for covering the bag body, wherein the bag body comprises an inner container having side walls and a bottom wall, and a first inner TPU fabric layer and a second outer TPU fabric layer that cover the outer sides of the side walls and the bottom wall of the inner container, and the upper cover comprises an upper cover body, and a first inner TPU fabric layer and a second outer TPU fabric layer that cover at least a part of the outer side of the upper cover body; characterized in that a vacuum insulation panel is disposed between the first inner TPU fabric layer and the second outer TPU fabric layer for the side walls of the inner container and/or the bottom wall of the inner container and/or the upper cover body, and a protective layer for the vacuum insulation panel is disposed between the vacuum insulation panel and the second outer TPU fabric layer.

The thermal insulation bag according to the present disclosure can provide improved thermal insulation capability by introducing the vacuum insulation panel (VIP) with good thermal insulation performance disposed between the TPU fabric layers; also, the service life of the thermal insulation bag according to the present disclosure is ensured by disposing the protective layer for protecting the vacuum insulation panel (namely, preventing the vacuum insulation panel from excessive deformation and/or breakage failure due to an external force).

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the vacuum insulation panel is internally provided with a plurality of filling modules arranged in a certain gap between each other.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the protective layer for the vacuum insulation panel is a metal plate (such as an iron plate or a steel plate), a wooden plate, or a hard plastic plate.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a vacuum insulation panel and an expanded polyethylene (EPE) insulation layer are disposed between the first inner TPU fabric layer and the second outer TPU fabric layer, namely, the vacuum insulation panel and the EPE insulation layer are used in combination.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the vacuum insulation panel, the EPE insulation layer and the protective layer are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer to the second outer TPU fabric layer; alternatively, the vacuum insulation panel, the protective layer, and the EPE insulation layer are sequentially disposed from the first inner TPU fabric layer to the second outer TPU fabric layer.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the EPE insulation layer, the vacuum insulation panel, the EPE insulation layer and the protective layer are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer to the second outer TPU fabric layer; alternatively, the EPE insulation layer, the vacuum insulation panel, the protective layer, and the EPE insulation layer are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer to the second outer TPU fabric layer.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the EPE insulation layer, the vacuum insulation panel and the protective layer are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer to the second outer TPU fabric layer.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the vacuum insulation panel, the EPE insulation layer, the vacuum insulation panel and the protective layer are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer to the second outer TPU fabric layer.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, only the vacuum insulation panel is provided between the first inner TPU fabric layer and the second outer TPU fabric layer.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. All of the above outlined features are to be understood as exemplary only and many more features and objectives of the various embodiments may be gleaned from the disclosure herein. Therefore, no limiting interpretation of this summary is to be understood without further reading of the entire specification, claims and drawings, included herewith. A more extensive presentation of features, details, utilities, and advantages of the present invention is provided in the following written description of various embodiments of the invention, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and defined in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the embodiments. In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of one type of thermal insulation bag;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a first implementation of a thermal insulation bag according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a second implementation of the thermal insulation bag according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a third implementation of the thermal insulation bag according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a fourth implementation of the thermal insulation bag according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a thermal insulation bag according to a second embodiment; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural view of a vacuum insulation panel of the thermal insulation bag according to the present embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below, and examples of the embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which the same or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements or the elements having the same or similar functions. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are intended to be illustrative of the present disclosure, but should not be construed as limiting. The described embodiments are capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Unless limited otherwise, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” and “mounted,” and variations thereof herein are used broadly and encompass direct and indirect connections, couplings, and mountings. In addition, the terms “connected” and “coupled” and variations thereof are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment”, “some embodiments” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment”, “in some embodiments” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but may. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from this disclosure, in one or more embodiments.

A thermal insulation bag according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure is described with reference to FIGS. 2-5 , wherein the thermal insulation bag uses the structure in which a vacuum insulation panel (VIP) is used in combination with the thermal insulation bag shown in FIG. 1 , more particularly in combination with an expanded polyethylene (EPE) insulation layer. Specifically, the thermal insulation bag 10 comprises a bag body 11 for receiving goods such as various foods and an upper cover 12 for covering the bag body 11. The bag body 11 comprises an inner container 111 having four side walls (of which two opposite side walls are shown in the cross-section views in the drawing) and a bottom wall, and the outer sides of the side walls and the bottom wall are covered by a first inner TPU fabric layer 13 and a second outer TPU fabric layer 14. The upper cover 12 comprises an upper cover body 121, and the outer side of at least a part of the upper portion and side portions of the upper cover body are covered by the first inner TPU fabric layer 13 and the second outer TPU fabric layer 14. When the upper cover 12 covers the bag body 11, the whole thermal insulation bag will be covered by the TPU fabric layers. In addition to an expanded polyethylene (EPE) insulation layer 15 shown in FIG. 1 , a vacuum insulation panel 16 and a protective layer 17 for protecting the vacuum insulation panel 16 are further inserted between the first inner TPU fabric layer 13 and the second outer TPU fabric layer 14. By introducing the vacuum insulation panel (VIP) with good thermal insulation performance and forming a combined structure together with the EPE insulation layer, it allows to further improve the heat preservation capacity; also, the service life of the thermal insulation bag according to the present disclosure is ensured by disposing the protective layer for protecting the vacuum insulation panel, namely, preventing the vacuum insulation panel from excessive deformation and/or breakage failure due to an external force (for example, it is pierced by sharp objects such as stones or protrusions on the ground or squeezed by heavy objects when used outdoors).

With respect to the first embodiment of the thermal insulation bag, it should be understood that the vacuum insulation panel may be selectively introduced between the first inner TPU fabric layer and the second outer TPU fabric layer to form a combined structure with the EPE insulation layer. For example, the vacuum insulation panel may be introduced between the first inner TPU fabric layer and the second outer TPU fabric layer for the side walls of the inner container, or between the first inner TPU fabric layer and the second outer TPU fabric layer for the bottom wall of the inner container, or between the first inner TPU fabric layer and the second outer TPU fabric layer for the upper cover body, or between the first inner TPU fabric layer and the second outer TPU fabric layer for both or all of them.

In the first implementation as shown in FIG. 2 , the EPE insulation layer 15, the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the protective layer 17 are arranged between the first inner TPU fabric layer 13 and the second outer TPU fabric layer 14 in the following manner: the vacuum insulation panel 16 is adjacent to the first inner TPU fabric layer 13, followed by the EPE insulation layer 15, and the protective layer 17 is adjacent to the second outer TPU fabric layer 14. When assembled, the vacuum insulation panel 16 may be bonded to the inner side of the EPE insulation layer 15, and the protective layer 17 may be bonded to the outer side of the EPE insulation layer 15 such that the three are simultaneously inserted together between the first inner TPU fabric layer 13 and the second outer TPU fabric layer 14. Not only can the assembly be facilitated by bonding to each other, but the securing of the layers between the TPU fabric layers can be further facilitated. Alternatively, in a variant example (not shown), the protective layer 17 can be disposed adjacent to the vacuum insulation panel 16, namely, the vacuum insulation panel 16, the protective layer 17 and the EPE insulation layer 15 are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer 13 to the second outer TPU fabric layer 14.

A second implementation of the thermal insulation bag according to the present disclosure is described with reference to FIG. 3 and also with reference to FIG. 2 (in particular with reference to the shown exemplary protective layer 17 and the position thereof). The EPE insulation layer 15, the vacuum insulation panel 16, the EPE insulation layer 15, and the protective layer 17 are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer 13 to the second outer TPU fabric layer 14. In a variant example (not shown), the protective layer 17 can be disposed adjacent to the vacuum insulation panel 16.

A third implementation of the thermal insulation bag according to the present disclosure is described with reference to FIG. 4 and also with reference to FIG. 2 (in particular with reference to the shown exemplary protective layer 17 and the position thereof). The EPE insulation layer 15, the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the protective layer 17 are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer 13 to the second outer TPU fabric layer 14.

A fourth implementation of the thermal insulation bag according to the present disclosure is described with reference to FIG. 5 and also with reference to FIG. 2 (in particular with reference to the shown exemplary protective layer 17 and the position thereof). The vacuum insulation panel 16, the EPE insulation layer 15, the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the protective layer 17 are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer 13 to the second outer TPU fabric layer 14.

The thermal insulation bag according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure is described with reference to FIG. 6 and also with reference to FIG. 2 (in particular with reference to the shown exemplary protective layer 17 and the position thereof). The thermal insulation bag of the second embodiment is basically similar to the overall structure of the thermal insulation bag of the first embodiment described above, except that the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the protective layer 17 are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer 13 to the second outer TPU fabric layer. In this embodiment, a vacuum insulation panel and a protective layer may generally be provided between the first inner TPU fabric layer and the second outer TPU fabric layer for the side walls of the inner container and the bottom wall of the inner container and the upper cover to ensure thermal insulation.

The thermal insulation bag according to the present disclosure can also use a vacuum insulation panel having a plurality of filling modules 161 each with a smaller surface area as schematically shown in FIG. 7 , in addition to the vacuum insulation panel having an integral filling layer with a larger surface area. Specifically, these filling modules 171 each with a smaller surface area are arranged in a certain gap between each other within the vacuum insulation panel. Compared with the integral filling layer with a larger surface area, such a structure in which a plurality of filling modules are arranged in a certain gap between each other can have better resistance to bending deformation, and even if the vacuum insulation panel is partially broken, the entire vacuum insulation panel cannot be failed, so that the thermal insulation effect and the service life of the thermal insulation bag can be further ensured.

The protective layer in the thermal insulation bag according to the present disclosure is a structure capable of protecting the vacuum insulation panel between the vacuum insulation panel and the outer TPU fabric layer so as to prevent the vacuum insulation panel from excessive deformation and/or breakage failure due to an external force, and can be, for example, a metal plate (such as an iron plate or a steel plate), a wooden plate or a hard plastic plate.

In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the orientations or the position relationship indicated by the terms such as “upper”, “lower”, “inner” and “outer” are based on the orientations or the position relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, which is only for ease of description of the present disclosure and for simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the devices or elements referred to necessarily have a specific orientation structure and operation, and therefore cannot be construed as limiting the present disclosure.

Moreover, the terms “first” and “second” are merely used for the illustrative purpose, and should not be construed as indicating or implying the relative importance. Thus, the features defined with “first” and “second” can explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features.

Although the embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown and described above, it should be understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and cannot be understood as limiting the present disclosure, and those of ordinary skill in the art would have made combinations, changes, modifications, replacements and variations to the above embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure.

While several inventive embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the invent of embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the inventive teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventive embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.

All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms. The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.” The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases.

Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should be understood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when used in the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or “exactly one of.” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims, shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities of ingredients, properties such as reaction conditions, and so forth used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about”. Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in this specification and claims are approximations that can vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by the presently-disclosed subject matter.

As used herein, the term “about,” when referring to a value or to an amount of mass, weight, time, volume, concentration or percentage is meant to encompass variations of in some embodiments ±20%, in some embodiments ±10%, in some embodiments ±5%, in some embodiments ±1%, in some embodiments ±0.5%, and in some embodiments ±0.1% from the specified amount, as such variations are appropriate to perform the disclosed method.

As used herein, ranges can be expressed as from “about” one particular value, and/or to “about” another particular value. It is also understood that there are a number of values disclosed herein, and that each value is also herein disclosed as “about” that particular value in addition to the value itself. For example, if the value “10” is disclosed, then “about 10” is also disclosed. It is also understood that each unit between two particular units are also disclosed. For example, if 10 and 15 are disclosed, then 11, 12, 13, and 14 are also disclosed.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “at least one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) can refer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, in any methods claimed herein that include more than one step or act, the order of the steps or acts of the method is not necessarily limited to the order in which the steps or acts of the method are recited.

In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual of Patent Examining Procedures.

The foregoing description of methods and embodiments has been presented for purposes of illustration. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise steps and/or forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention and all equivalents be defined by the claims appended hereto. 

1. A thermal insulation bag, comprising: a bag body for accommodating goods and an upper cover for covering the bag body, wherein the bag body comprises an inner container having side walls and a bottom wall, and a first inner TPU fabric layer and a second outer TPU fabric layer that covers outer sides of the side walls and the bottom wall of the inner container, and the upper cover comprises an upper cover body, and a first inner TPU fabric layer and a second outer TPU fabric layer that cover at least a part of the outer side of the upper cover body; characterized in that a vacuum insulation panel is disposed between the first inner TPU fabric layer and the second outer TPU fabric layer for the side walls of the inner container and/or the bottom wall of the inner container and/or the upper cover body, and a protective layer for the vacuum insulation panel is disposed between the vacuum insulation panel and the second outer TPU fabric layer.
 2. The thermal insulation bag according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum insulation panel is internally provided with a plurality of filling modules arranged in a certain gap between each other.
 3. The thermal insulation bag according to claim 1, wherein the protective layer for the vacuum insulation panel is a metal plate, a wooden plate, or a hard plastic plate.
 4. The thermal insulation bag according to claim 3, wherein the metal plate is an iron plate or a steel plate.
 5. The thermal insulation bag according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum insulation panel and an expanded polyethylene (EPE) insulation layer are disposed between the first inner TPU fabric layer and the second outer TPU fabric layer.
 6. The thermal insulation bag according to claim 5, wherein the vacuum insulation panel, the EPE insulation layer and the protective layer are sequentially disposed from the first inner TPU fabric layer to the second outer TPU fabric layer; alternatively, the vacuum insulation panel, the protective layer, and the EPE insulation layer are sequentially disposed from the first inner TPU fabric layer to the second outer TPU fabric layer.
 7. The thermal insulation bag according to claim 5, wherein the EPE insulation layer, the vacuum insulation panel, the EPE insulation layer and the protective layer are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer to the second outer TPU fabric layer.
 8. The thermal insulation bag according to claim 5, wherein the EPE insulation layer, the vacuum insulation panel, the protective layer, and the EPE insulation layer are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer to the second outer TPU fabric layer.
 9. The thermal insulation bag according to claim 5, wherein the EPE insulation layer, the vacuum insulation panel and the protective layer are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer to the second outer TPU fabric layer.
 10. The thermal insulation bag according to claim 5, wherein the vacuum insulation panel, the EPE insulation layer, the vacuum insulation panel and the protective layer are sequentially arranged from the first inner TPU fabric layer to the second outer TPU fabric layer.
 11. The thermal insulation bag according to claim 1, wherein only the vacuum insulation panel is provided between the first inner TPU fabric layer and the second outer TPU fabric layer. 